Art of distilling petroleum oils



Pateafed'nse 2z, 1925.

Eng-An n. cLAnx,

or NEw Yonx, N. y., coMrANY,1A coaronA'rIoN or DELAWARE.

'ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD DEVELOPMENT Arvr or DIsTTLLING PErnoLEUM ons.

-Application filed April 24, 1920. Serial No. 376,252.

^ Toallwhom t mag/concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR M. CLARK, a citizen of the United States, residing at New lYork, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Art of Distilling Petroleum Oils, of which the following is a y specification. The present invention relates to the distillation of petroleum or hydrocarbon oils and will be clearly understood from the following description, illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a device embodying the present invention, partially in section, and Figure 2 is a detail view of a portion thereof. w Frequently in the dry or fire distillation oftroleum oils, a residue ofliquid is left in the stills,.which is removed and separately treated in a diierent still. This is particularly true in the case of pressure distillation of petroleum oils such as those of the fuel oil class, for the production of lighter oils, such as gasoline, as has been described, for

example, in the patent try-William M. Burton, No. 1,049,667 of January 7th, 1913. At the termination of a dry distillation of a hydrocarbon oil, and articularly of such a ressure distillation, t e residual body of o1l 1n the still and the setting of the still ltself contain large quantities of heat which, 1n accordance with the present invention, may be utilized for the further treatment of the residues. of distillation. i

vReferringmore particularly to the drawings, the numeral 5 indicates a drum,serv ing as a container for a bulk supply of o 1l which is to undergo distillation. e ow thls o drum are av number of downwardly inclined tubes 6, which are mounted within the setting 7 of the still in such manner as to receive the direct heat of the combustion gases.- A deck 8 is provided above the tubes and below the drum 5 in order to protect the latter from the direct heat of the furnace in the setting. The tubes 6 communicate at their upper and lower ends with the headers 9 and 10, respectively, and these headers 5 communicate'with the drum 5 by the vertical pipes 11 and 12, the .arrangement being preferably suchthat the communicating pipes .enter the: ends of atter. The.d rum is provided with a vapor line whichvv v rveferably has the Vat points near the opposite form of an inclined, lagged pipe 13 and commumcates at its upper end with a suitable condenser, such as the air condenser 14. The lagged p1pe 13 and the'condense1` 14 serve .for the reflux or return of condensate heav- 1er than the desired products o the distillation process proper, to the drum 5. A vapor line rom the condenser 14, indicated by numeral 15, passes off to a condenser (not shown) for the condensation of the end products of distillation.

In the normal operation of the still the drum and tubes are char ed with the stock to be subjected to distillation, and the still is fired in order to heat up and distill the, charge. A pressure of rom4 to 5 atmospheres may be maintained through the system. During the distillation, heat is continually supplied in the required amount and the oil circulates from the drum through the tubes 6 and back to the drum. The vapors evolved from the oil pass oit' through the dephlegmator pipe 13 to the dephlegmating condenser 14 where products heavier than the desired end products are condensed and returned to the drum, 80 while the end products, with any lighter or incondensible vapors, pass oii` through the vapor line 15 to suitable condensers.

t the termination of the distillation, a residue remains in the drum 5 and in the tubes 6, which is at a high temperature and which, articularly in the case of pressure distillat1on, contain considerable proportions of constituents, the boiling points of which are not greatly above those of the end product of the distillation process proper. The still and setting are likewise at a high temperature, that of the setting being say,

13004500o F. The fires may then be drawn and the residue treated by the contained heat of the still and the setting, in accordance with the present invention, as follows:v An inert gaseous medium, such as steam, may be introduced into the still. It is preferred that the steam be introduced in an upward direction into the circulating leg llbetween the upper header 9 and the drum, as thereby an active 4circulation of the residue from the drum thru the tubes and back to the drum is promoted. steam pipe 16 may enter the drum, and pass down into the header pipe 11, terminating in an upwardly directed nozzleoropening, thru which steam is injected into the oil. The gaseous medium introduced passes out thru the vapor line, carrying with it a large `proportion of vapors of the residual oil within the still. To the bottom of the ,de-

' phlegmator condenser 14 a pipe 17 is connected which leads to the collectors and condensers '18 and 19. The vapors of oil and the steam, if the latter be used as the gaseous .dioxide or natural gas, the permanent gas passes oli thru the vapor line While the oil vapors carried by it condense in the dephlegmatcr 14 and pass od' into the receptacles 18 and 19.v The passage of the steam or the gaseous vehicle into the oil-fin the still is continued until the residues therein have been reduced to the desired consistency or until the contained heat of the still and settings are exhausted. In the treatment of the residues of pressure distillation of an oil having the character of fuel oil, the residues having a density of about 20 degrees B., about 60 per cent may be distilled 0E in accordance with the present invention as a'gas oil of about B. leaving in the still a final residue of tarry consistency, which may be removed thru the draw-olf pipe 21.

I claim: y y

1. The process of utilizing thecontained heat of a fire-heated still and setting at the end of a pressure-distillation of a heavy oil for the production `of gasoline for the treatment of the residues of the distillation, said residues-being of about 20 degrees B. density, which consists in withdrawing the still lire, subsequently passing steam thru the residues and condenslng the evolved vapors until about 60 per cent of the oil of the residues have been removed and condensed, and

withdrawing the residual oil from the still.

2. The process of utilizing the contained heat of a tire-heated still and setting at the end of a pressure distillation for the treatment of the residues of distillation which consists in withdrawing the still lire,'circu lating the said residues thru a confined path `in the highly'heated portions of the setting, injecting a gaseous medium into the said residues in, such manner as to promote a circulation of the residues thru 4said path,`

withdrawing the gaseous medium to ether with the oil vapors'carried thereby, an condensing the oil vapors.

heat-of a lire-heated still and setting at the end of a pressure distillation of petroleum oils rocessfor the treatment of the residues of distillation which consists in withdrawing the still lire, subsequently passing thru the body of the residue a gaseous vehicle, withdrawing the vapors of said gaseous vehicle together with the oil .va rs carried thereby, condensing and returning to the still the heavier portions of the oil vapors carried by the gaseous medium, and condensing and collecting the lighter portions of the said oil vapors, these portions being heavier than the products of the initial distillation.

EDGAR M. CLARK.

3. The process of utilizing the contained.- 

